The Courtships of Queen Elizabeth

Catharine to provide for Alen?on abroad-Alen?on's negotiations with the Flemings-Flight of Alen?on from Paris-Elizabeth's distrust of French interference in Flanders-Her negotiations with Alen?on o

th were filled with quarrelsome, dissolute, and utterly unscrupulous young men, who gloried in their vices. Those who surrounded the King were mostly Catholics, whilst Alen?on's courti

a fair lady's carriage into which Alen?on mounted, and was carried as fast as the horses could gallop to where a body of three hundred horsemen were ready to serve as his escort. They got two hours' start before the King learnt of his brother's flight, and orders were given in rage and panic to bring hi

ontreuil on November 28, 1575.94 They contain no word about marriage, but La Porte was instructed to co-operate with Castelnau de la Mauvissière, who was now the ambassador in England, in bringing it forward. Elizabeth insisted, however, as a preliminary, that a complete reconciliation should take place between the brothers and peace made with the Huguenots before she would again entertain the matter. The best way, said Catharine to Dale, to bring that about is for your mistress to desist from helping the rebels; and again the negotiations were shelved. Elizabeth's new coolness is easily explained. Convinced, probably, of the inutility of an alliance with France in its present divided and unstable condition, she was for the moment actively engaged in making friends with Spain. Granvelle's brother Champigny, who had come from Flanders as an envoy from Philip's governor of the Netherlands to treat for a resumption of friendly relations, had been received with effusive civility. Philip's fleet, under Pedro de Valdes, had been hospitably entertained at Plymouth, and Corbet had been sent to Flanders to arrange a commercial treaty between England and the Spanish States. Elizabeth had, moreover185 hastily recalled the English levies serving with Orange, although but few obeyed the call; and finally she had despatched young Henry Cobham as an envoy to Philip himself, in orde

ivres a year and rich estates in France; Condé was promised the governorship of Picardy; the Chatillons, Montgomeri, and even poor dead La Mole and Coconas were rehabilitated, the crown jewels were pawned to pay the German troops, and so at last peace was made. But still the necessity for getting Alen?on out of the way existed; and, in despair of Elizabeth, active negotiations were opened for him to marry elsewhere. Catharine of Navarre, a princess of Cleves, and a daughter of the Palat

me the fish failed to rise, and for the next three years Alen?on remained ostentatiously Catholic, sometimes in arms against Huguenot resistance, sometimes at Court with his brother, with whom he was nominally on good terms. But the personal hatred and jealousy between them continued still, and the

length of sneering at Alen?on himself. This was at a ball at the palace of the Montmorencis to which Catharine had forced her son to go against his will; and fearing that this demonstration of the mignons portended the Bastille or poison for himself, the Duke lost patience, and demanded permission to withdraw himself from

nches of the house of Austria, the Walloon nobles had brought to Flanders as their governor the young Archduke Mathias as an avowed rival of the Protestant Orange. He was a poor creature, but the great Taciturn patriotically persuaded his followers to recognise him as their chief, he, Orange, being his lieutenant. This, after some turmoil and bloodshed, they did, and it was in his name that the hastily gathered levies of the States went out to attack Don John who had betrayed them. The victor of Lepanto with his few veterans met them on the last day of January, 1578, and completely defeated them, and the insurgent189 Flemings once more were at the mercy of the cruel Spanish soldiery, who were speeding back again from Italy eager to shed the blood again of the brave burghers who only a few months before had insisted upon their withdrawal. Mathias was a broken reed-he had no money, no followers, no influence, and no prestige, so the Flemings were fain t

were rife to rescue the captive. Bussy crept back into Paris to plan an escape with Simier, but both were captured and laid by the heels. Then Catharine managed somehow to patch up a reconciliation. Bussy was made to kiss his principal antagonist Quélus in the presence of the whole Court, which he did in so exaggerated a fashion as to make every one laugh, and left Quélus more enraged than ever. The prison doors were opened, the guards removed, and the partisans of both brothers swore eternal friendship. But the mignons saw

ld have to oppose them, and the only terms upon which Elizabeth would allow the French to be employed were that an equal number of Englishmen should enter with them. Don John, on the other hand, was to be alarmed by the idea that Alen?on's entrance would only be a cloak for a French national invasion of Flanders, and that Elizabeth would be forced to aid the States to repel it. In fact, if Alen?on's adventure was secretly under his brother's patronage, it would have been as disastrous for England as for Spain, whilst, if affairs could so be guided that Alen?on might depend upon English patronage and money for his expedition, Elizabeth's ends would be well served. For the next few years, therefore, the aim192 of English diplomacy was to capture Alen?on for English interests and embroil him with his brother, whilst at the same time avoiding an open rupture with Spain. Alen?on knew, as Elizabeth did not, that he would get no aid, secret or overt, from his brother, so he lost no time in protesting to the English Queen his "undying affection for her" in a letter written from the town of Alen?on in May, 1578, and to this an encouraging reply was sent. In vain his brother and mother threatened and cajoled. Dukedoms, money, marriage-alliances were offered him in vain. On the

in as to whether Henry III. was helping his brother, and she kept the envoy at arm's length for awhile, Sussex being the intermediary between them; but when Walsingham and Cobham returned from an unsuccessful mission of peace in Flanders, and her own agents in France had assured her that Alen?on was really acting in despite of his brother, her attitude towards her young suitor completely changed. De Bacqueville had succeeded in impressing honest Sussex with his master's sincerity, and t

but little solid satisfaction from the Queen. She told them that it was entirely their master's fault that the negotiations had been dropped for two years. She herself could give no other answer than that which she had given so often before. She could not marry any prince without seeing him, and if Alen?on was going to take offence in case, after seeing him, she did not accept him, he had better not come; if, on the other hand, he was in earnest, and would remain friendly in any case, he could come on a simple visit with but few followers. Cecil, at all events, did not believe in the Queen's sincerity at this time, for he said that if he were in de Bacqueville's place he would196 not bring his master over on such a message. With the message, such as it was, de Quincy went back to his master at Antwerp at the end of August, but the loan of 300,000 crowns for which de Bacqueville had entreated was not forthcoming, at all events without good security. Bussy d'Amboise soon after came to England with a similar errand, but with no better result. The Queen's first condition of the marriage was the retirement of Alen?on from the Netherlands. Nor was pressure wanting from other quarters to the same effect. The Pope, through his Nuncio, offered the young prince a great pension if he would retire, his brother alternately threatened and cajoled, Catharine de Medici held out the bait of a marriage with one of the infantas, and Alen?on himself was already disappointed at the failure of the States to fulfil their promises to him and place some strong places in his hands. In fact, the French prince was looked upon by the northern Dutchmen as coldly as Mathias had been, and if he could bring neither the national support of England or France he would be as useless as the Austrian had been. And so everything hung on the caprice of Elizabeth. It was still desirable for the King of France, if possible, to marry his brother in England, and especially if, at the same time, he could secure an alliance between the two countries. The principal point he had to avoid was being driven into an attitude of antagonism to Spain whilst England remained unpledged and Alen?on unwed; and these were the very objects towards which Elizabeth's personal policy tended. Whilst de Bacqueville was in England in the autumn of 1578, two of the French king's principal197 advisers were sent to forward the marriage negotiations. These were Rambouillet and L'Aubespine, who were received by the Queen at Norwi